Sore Feet and other Annoyances
by WeirdoGoddess
Summary: In a world trying to rebuild itself after the War, Rhea and her friends travel and learn, trying to make every place a better one. Proof-reader appreciated, Title and Rating may change.
1. Prologue

Prologue - Birth of a New Era

Aang and Katara sat outside on a late autumn evening, enjoying the last warm rays of sun of the dying year as they took in their surroundings. They had lived here together, in a simple house near a village in the now peaceful Fire Nation, for the past decades, travelling often to fulfil Aang's peace-making Avatar duties, but always returning home with a smile and a contented sigh. They had grown old together without realizing, Katara thought as Aang wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned against her heavily. They had spited age for many years, and now it was catching up with them.

"Katara…" Aang sighed, turning towards her slowly.

Her eyes locked with his, and she could see his expression fading.

"I love you, Katara. I always have."

His eyes closed slowly, and as he took his final breath, a faint voice carried the last words he ever heard to his ears.

"I love you too, Aang. I always will."

And so, in the arms of his beloved wife, with her tears falling down on his peaceful face, Avatar Aang, one of the last Airbenders, passed away.

And, with the innocent cry of a newborn baby, the new Avatar was born.

**A/N:** Wanted to make this quick and relatively painless. Bye Aang, you know we love you.

And yes, I said 'one of the last' Airbenders. Hint hint, wink wink. This story takes place about eighty years after the show, so some aspects of the world will have changed – modernisation, and all that.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Life at its Usual

Rhea stared at her sister in shock.

"Senna, those are_ my_ shoes, and you know it!"

"Chill, sister. They look much better on me anyways. Hurry up, I don't want to be late." Senna replied nonchalantly while getting up, leaving her breakfast dishes for their maid and caretaker to take care of and going to her room.

Rhea sighed. She'd have to wear her old shoes on her first day of term. Great.

Pretending to straighten her school uniform – a hopeless case, it didn't fit her at all, mainly because she was carrying it down from Senna, who was taller and slimmer than her – she sighed. She cleared away her sister's dishes, not bothering with her own breakfast as the early-morning confrontation made her lose her appetite. Fetching her school supplies from her room, she went outside and waited for her sister on a stone bench near their house's entryway. Losing herself in daydreams, she only came back to earth twenty minutes later, when Senna came out of the house.

"I thought you didn't want to be late?", Rhea pointed out, getting up from the bench and starting to head towards the school.

"I wasn't sure which earrings to wear, what with it being an important day and all. I decided to go with subtle beauty. What do you think?"

Rhea glanced to her side. The huge, shimmering hoops hanging from her sisters' ears could hardly be described as subtle, but to each their own. "Nice." She said, realizing that her sister was actually waiting for her answer – which was unusual. She usually just kept talking.

She felt Senna looking down at her ill-fitting uniform and shoes. "You could have at least tried to clean yourself up a little, you know. Dad's coming back today, and who knows which visitors he'll bring. We wouldn't want them to think that a Fire Nation ambassador's daughter doesn't care about looks, now would we?"

Rhea sighed. Dad's return was good news, at least. He was an ambassador for the Fire Nation, which meant he travelled frequently. The last week, he had been on Ember Island for a meeting with officials from the other nations concerning the new Avatar, who, even after testing of every child in the Water Tribes – for Water was the next link in the Avatar cycle – had not been found. It was a mystery.

Even though he was often gone, Rhea liked her father. He was one of the only people who understood her tendency to get completely lost in her own fantasy world – he said this was a trait she shared with her mother, who had passed away two years after Rhea's birth. Rhea didn't know much about her, as she knew it hurt her father to talk about her, and so she didn't ask. Senna, being a few years older, probably had a few memories of her, but Rhea wouldn't dream of striking up that conversation with her sister.

Having picked up the pace, they arrived at school barely on time, just as the supervisors were shooing the last children inside. Senna had spent the entire distance telling her about all of the friends she was looking forward to seeing again, and which boys she expected to fall in love with her this year, and which classes she was going to need Rhea to do her homework in. Rhea hadn't listened and instead silently wondered what news their father would bring to them this afternoon. Leaving her sister alone at the front entrance, she headed towards her classroom.

The teacher wasn't there yet when she arrived, which was good news – lateness was definitely not one of the 'positive character traits' Fire Nation children were expected to carry. Rhea's muddy blue eyes searched the room for a free seat – there was only one left, next to a dark-skinned girl with long, curly black hair in the third row, whom she did not recall ever seeing before. She headed towards the table.

"Hi there," Rhea spoke warmly. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Doesn't look like you have much of a choice", the girl smirked jokingly. "Sure, I don't mind. I'm Lakitu, by the way."

Rhea chuckled and sat down, taking out her writing materials. "I'm Rhea." Remembering her manners, she added without a pause, "Pleased to meet you. Are you new? I don't remember you from last year."

"Yeah, I am. My family and I just moved here from Ember Island. Guess my mom got bored of the seaside."

"Ember Island? Nice. My dad's there on a business trip just now. Is it nice?" Rhea liked this newcomer, despite the sharp remarks which seemed to be part of everything she said.

"As nice as a place made entirely of mud and rocks can get, I suppose. Much smaller than here."

'Here' referred to the city Rhea had grown up in – Huo Bao, located on one of the easternmost islands of the Fire Nation. With it being so close to the Earth Kingdom, it had changed quite a lot in the last decades, becoming much more open-minded and less strict than what every Fire Nation city used to be like.  
The school system, though, was still desperately in need of an overhaul.

"Rise, class, and recite with me the Oath of Loyalty." The teacher's strict voice rang throughout the classroom, immediately silencing all conversation. Obediently, the entire Ninth Form stood beside the desks and recited the oath before sitting back down in silence and beginning to work on a summary of the first chapter of their History textbook, concerning the reign of now deceased Fire Lord Zuko and the democratic system of government he established.

Nope, this year wasn't going to be any different.


End file.
